Two of the launch projects are in Brazil and one in Ecuador. The reason for choosing these areas is threefold:

These areas are of paramount importance for their biodiversity but are threatened by human activities such as logging, cattle ranching and clearance for agriculture etc. These threats need to be countered if the carbon in these endangered habitats is to remain locked up.

Their location and/or conservation helps secure tens of thousands of acres of forest behind them ensuring our sponsors are protecting far more than their sponsored acres.

They are mature rainforests with uniquely high levels of biodiversity reflecting thousands of years of undisturbed growth, wildlife and species - they deserve to be left this way.

Rainforest covers 6% of the earth's land surface. They are concentrated in tropical regions, but extend as far north as Canada and as far south as Chile. It's the tropical rainforest - in the Amazon, in Central Africa and in South East Asia - that's most at risk. Each year, 50 million acres - an area the size of Britain - are cut down, emitting around 6 billion tonnes of CO2.